#01. hypnoticallycaucasian

[taxidermied-genius]

Starter for @hypnoticallycaucasian

The painted city is awash with rain. The rain is awash upon your face but it does not cleanse it. You are a broken man, but you are only human as well. Some would say the two go hand-in-hand like a dance.

Once upon a time, he may have called himself shattered, but broken and shattered are two distinct states of existence, the latter of which he is not. At least, not anymore. He's as rigid as a statue that has yet to be kilned, leaking clay as the rain melts it, but for all his effort remains upright. Something itches on his skin, a bug bite perhaps, and it bothers him, but he can't even muster the energy to scratch. He can imagine the relief of his nail upon his boil, but still are his fingers. This apathy eats at him, it drains him, and he knows it will drain him until he is nothing more than an empty husk on the side of the road. Perhaps he already is. Yes.

The husk stands at the bus stop. It waits for a bus that will never come.

How long had he been here for now? He'd wondered if perhaps the others had found their way here as well, but he couldn't even remember how he'd arrived in the first place, so how could they have followed him? And wondering, he wandered, up and down the streets. It had taken him at least a full day to go to a house that wasn't his and sleep on a floor he didn't recognize. And afterwards, he'd found himself roaming again, everything a blur until this very moment, as if his consciousness simply popped back into existence when it felt like it.

His only companion had been the soft pitter-pattering of rain that soon turned into a rather hard pitter-pattering of rain that pelted him ceaselessly. His eyes weren't closed to the world, but they may as well have been. All he could see was a blurry mess of neon swirls. But those blurry shapes became sharper when he heard something. A mumble of words.

"..........."

What had they said? The man's eyes blink as he is drawn back to reality to find a figure standing beside him.

"...Pardon me, for I had been lost in thought," he murmurs back, one hand gripping its opposite sleeve, "but I am afraid I may have misheard you, beneath the rain. I would humbly request you repeat yourself."

[clxscdeyes]

@hypnoticallycaucasian

If there's one person she feels she can actually GET to helping her, it's someone like Badou. Someone normal. No superpowers, no sights, just a man and his gun. Smart as he is and probably aware of the missing persons report, he'd have no idea the gravity of the situation.

"Mister Badou?" Her scared little voice peeks from behind a building.

[dragonhcrt]

@hypnoticallycaucasian

"Did you need a light?" Marcellus wasn't really one to actually smoke, but here he was, sitting at a park's bench lighting one up. It's been such a long day--no, scratch that. It's been SUCH a long month if anything. He exhales the smoke and watches as it disappears. He sighs, the lighter still in hand, extended for the redhead to use as he pleases.

"It's starting to get a little chilly."

[epilvgue]

「𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤 𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤!」- No. Nononononono.

Not again! This hadn't gone well the last time, and it definitely wouldn't go well this time! Especially if the creature recognized them as second-time offenders!

Vash frantically pressed the up button on the pad outside of the now closed elevator doors. He mashed his finger into the button again and again, frantically trying to call the elevator back down to them. The light was dim overhead - ominously so. Why the hell was the basement of the mall so dark anyways?!

Eventually though...

"So... uh... looks like we're gonna have'ta find another elevator..." Slowly he turned back to Badou as he spoke.

They had been riding the same elevator. Intent on going down to the first floor... then going even further. And the elevator had refused to go back up or close it's doors. They'd both tried for several minutes and no one had answered the emergency call button.

So they had gotten off. But, when they got off... the doors had shut and the elevator had went back up.

@hypnoticallycaucasian // starter call

[edenexile]

In all his millennia of life, Sandalphon had never sprained an ankle before. In an act of hubris the archangel was making his way down a set of stairs in a hurry, only to slip and fall with his left ankle as collateral.

Granted, under normal circumstances, he would've just started flying... but if only he were so lucky.

To add insult to injury, it was broad daylight. In the middle of Merchant Town. Where people would've seen his poor display of dexterity— it couldn't be any more evident from his flushed, frustrated expression that he was embarrassed beyond belief. His only saving grace was that his aching ankle would straighten itself out quicker than it would for any mortal.

"Tch..."

Doesn't mean it didn't hurt though.

@hypnoticallycaucasian

[epilvgue]

「𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤 𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤!」 - Everything was new, much of it strange and something that the man had never seen or come in contact with before. He could hardly fathom the area he was in let alone all that it contained. The people, the sights, the sounds - all of it was strange. Confusing. Even with the influence of the Federal Forces since his fight with Knives, nothing came even remotely close to this. People were everywhere but they all wore such strange things that he could hardly tell when or where they came from. If anything, they all seemed to come from different places. Different times. Different worlds?

More than that, however, it was already more than apparent that something was fundamentally missing from him. Everything seemed just a bit too dull, a bit too dim. Nothing stood out the way that it normally would, even his more heightened senses were sluggish. It didn't matter how he trained, he seemed just that bit slower. Not to mention that he somehow had lost, well, everything he'd had on him previously. His rucksack was gone, the cloak left over from Knives wasn't with him. All he had were the clothes on his back, his glasses, a device he was still getting used to, an amount of money, a strange key to a place he barely knew, and a potted plant that he now had to take care of. His Colt was missing as was the ammo and that made the man rather nervous.

Being defenseless in a place he didn't know was unsettling. Especially when he thought about the special ammo that he had previously had on his person.

It was almost something that Vash could find humor in - he had always been interested in how humans lived. He had always found himself wishing he could be more like them… but now that he was closer to them than he had ever been… he was on edge.

At the moment he was at a small store, wandering aisles and looking for anything even remotely familiar. Yet as he was scratching his head over a number of snack options, he bumped into someone standing just to his left. "Woah. Sorry 'bout that."

@brokeassgoing // starter call

[taxidermied-genius]

Upon seeing the figure approach, Yi Sang's expression contorts into various appearances before it settles into the facsimile of a smile. A ghost of its former self, yet still he cannot hide the joy that fills him upon seeing the face of another human being, who is probably wandering this world just as lost as he was.

"Fret not, for it would not behoove me to do something so drastic," he responds. "I was merely lost in the essence of the moment, as I often find myself, when thoughts become heavier than lead. Pray, tell me your name. Yi Sang is all my name is. A simple name it is." Far from spectacular in any way.

With the softest smile upon his cheeks, the man possibly resembles the quintessence of a lost, wet puppy, wagging its tail at the first sight of someone who might be able to take it in.

Rain here brings just about as much as that mix of misery-joy as it does back-- where they come from. Where he's absolutely sure they originally were dragged to, and not this, this farce-- because this isn't real and he isn't crazy! It's fine.

It's cold out here, and the rain is colder as it trickles down his collar, wetting his hair, even where he's shielded with the umbrella he's got over his head.

He wanders these days, familiarizing himself with this mirage of a place, of the ghosts of people he knows, when something catches his attention in the corner of his eyes.

A person. Looking pretty miserable, too.

"I said you're not gonna do a backflip into a river, are you?"

This is a new face, too, not one of the echoes he's familiar with, and unlikely to be a stand in in this world, probably.

[dragonhcrt]

"I'd say, you're more like a slinky." Oh, Marcellus CAN tease, can't he?

"C'mon. Let's get you out of the cold, mm?"

He raises a brow at his companion.

"No? C'mon, I bend like a leaf. You've seen me running, screaming."

Badou's alright with it.

[dragonhcrt]

"Alright, well dry noodles DO break easy, but I don't think you're someone that breaks easy, Badou."

He reaches over to pat Badou on the back.

Badou's grin widens if possible, his snickers rising in volume.

"No, wet noodles never stop! They're hearty. I guess, sure, I'll give you that. Dry noodles, then?"

[clxscdeyes]

No matter how much Badou's rubbing her hands, they don't seem to be getting colder. They remain freezing, but nonetheless, Luna lets him continue trying to get her warm. She's not worried about it. Badou won't know.

"Okay," She says softly and nods. "Mister Badou, your own hands will get cold holding mine." And even know she isn't worried about it, she still HAS to play the part.

"Nah, you're alright," Badou tells her softly, continuing to try and warm her cold little hands up. She sounds so scared, and genuinely apologetic as if they wouldn't worry-- as if its her fault!

It isn't. They'll figure it out.

"We'll check it all out, okay?"

[dragonhcrt]

"A WET NOODLE?" Oh, and Badou earns an even heartier laugh from the dragon. a wet leather.

"Badou, by you being a wet noodle, you wouldn't be able to keep going." He'll settle for a wet leather. At least when hit by one, it'd hurt.

Badou looks at him incredulously, a little laugh slipping from his mouth.

"A tank? Me? More like a noodle, or wet leather or something. I mean what else can ya do? You gotta keep going."

[epilvgue]

「𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤 𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤!」- Well gee... he'd just thought that maybe something

"...There's isn't even a whole blueprint?"

Vash flopped down onto the old bench, body slouching against the cold wall behind. He was stuck in thought until -

"Lucky day for you two, somebody came to bail you out before dawn." There was a yougn man in a security guard uniform... followed by Legato.

"Just the one of them," Legato replied, sounding for all the world like a disappointed parent. The cell door was unlocked and opened up (an offering for Badou alone evidently), Vash scrambling -- "Hey, what about me?! Legato! C'mon!!!!!" - The cell door was shut right in his face. Ouch!

「𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤 𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤!」- "THE ARCHIVES?? YER WHOLE JOB IS TA GATHER INFO AN' USE IT LATER, ISN'T IT??"

Vash then proceeded to peer back out at the Krystal Walker once more, his expression turning to one of uncertainty as he looked back at Badou.

"...I don't think we're trickin' it into anythin'... It's gotta be under some sort of orders."

The Plant hung his head now, sighing heavily. "Guess we just have to wait..."

[epilvgue]

「𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤 𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤!」- "THE ARCHIVES?? YER WHOLE JOB IS TA GATHER INFO AN' USE IT LATER, ISN'T IT??"

Vash then proceeded to peer back out at the Krystal Walker once more, his expression turning to one of uncertainty as he looked back at Badou.

"...I don't think we're trickin' it into anythin'... It's gotta be under some sort of orders."

The Plant hung his head now, sighing heavily. "Guess we just have to wait..."

「𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤 𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤!」- Vash was nearly wailing now - "I dunno! I just figured I'd ask! Maybe ya did some research on it since we came down here the last time!"

That is to say - he'd tried to do a little research on both it and the mall in the mean time. Trying to figure out what their friend was and what else might be around the mall that it could be safeguarding. Not because he wanted whatever it might end up being... but, well, he was always curious...

By this point, the Walker had wandered back away and left them alone to cling to one another. A single word was all it had said just that had been more than enough to send both men into a spiral.

However, after a few more moments, Vash asked, "Uh... hey... d'you think it only understands simple stuff...? It hasn't been reactin' to us after we started talkin' more..."

[epilvgue]

「𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤 𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤!」- Vash was nearly wailing now - "I dunno! I just figured I'd ask! Maybe ya did some research on it since we came down here the last time!"

That is to say - he'd tried to do a little research on both it and the mall in the mean time. Trying to figure out what their friend was and what else might be around the mall that it could be safeguarding. Not because he wanted whatever it might end up being... but, well, he was always curious...

By this point, the Walker had wandered back away and left them alone to cling to one another. A single word was all it had said just that had been more than enough to send both men into a spiral.

However, after a few more moments, Vash asked, "Uh... hey... d'you think it only understands simple stuff...? It hasn't been reactin' to us after we started talkin' more..."

「𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤 𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤!」- They were both screaming now. After a moment, the Walker turned away, lumbering back into the vague dark that the two men had managed to become somewhat accustomed to.

Vash had rapidly scrambled away from the bars, all the way back to grab onto Badou.

"It talks?!" he yelped. He whipped his head over to look at Badou. "Did you know it talks?!"

[epilvgue]

「𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤 𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤!」- They were both screaming now. After a moment, the Walker turned away, lumbering back into the vague dark that the two men had managed to become somewhat accustomed to.

Vash had rapidly scrambled away from the bars, all the way back to grab onto Badou.

"It talks?!" he yelped. He whipped his head over to look at Badou. "Did you know it talks?!"

「𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤 𝔟𝔞𝔫𝔤!」- "Yeah, yeah, sure... you were right, I'm nosy...." He knew it. Pretty much everyone who had ever met him knew it. He had no idea how to keep himself out of other people's business or out of anything he might not belong in.

-- Did he think it understood human speech...? Now Vash blinked.

Huh...?

He joined Badou in peering out the bars to the veritable monster of rock now guarding them. Slowly he narrowed his eyes, frowned a little... and stood up.

"Well... I guess we could try. I mean it can't really do anythin' more to us. We're already in the cell..."

Vash wrapped his hands around the bars, nearly trying to wiggle his head out from in between them and - "Heeeey! We only came down here by mistake, honest! So what'd'ya say? Why don'cha just let us out, huh? It's still a while before the mall closes down! You don't really wanna stand guard here fer hours, do ya?"

Pleading. Pitiful.

The Walker moved, turning around towards where they were in their cell. It lumbered towards the pair and there was a low gravely noise that Vash wasn't quite sure where it came from.

Vash asked again, "So... you think we can go?"

It was a simple question. One he -

"No."

Grating. Deep. That definitely wasn't Badou. It certainly wasn't Vash himself.

The Krystal Walker.... could talk...

Vash's eyes were wide, a scream already tearing from his throat.

[dragonhcrt]

"You're built like a tank if I ever saw one," he says with a smirk. He's seen a tank and seriously, Badou was one strong being to be able to STILL stand tall after everything.

"I'm slowly getting there," he says with an admitting nod.

Another sigh, his mouth twitching into a huge grin-- a laugh, a victory. A tiny one that doesn't really matter, but after all this.

"Yeah, I'm alright. I survived it-- that's all I can do."

Badou turns his gaze to his companion.

"How about you?"